Sakib secures 2nd place for Dhaka

Dhaka Dynamites captain Sakib al Hasan plays a shot during their Bangladesh Premier
League match against Rangpur Riders at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Wednesday.— Sourav Losker

Sakib al Hasan starred with bat and ball to help Dhaka Dynamites secure second place in the first phase of Bangladesh Premier League with a crushing 43-run win over Rangpur Riders in Dhaka on Wednesday.Sakib’s unbeaten 47 off 33 deliveries guided Dhaka to 137-7 before his 2-13 in four overs played a part in restricting Rangpur to 94-7 to set-up the first qualifier against Comilla Victorians on Friday.Rangpur, who had no chance to move to second even if with a win, made seven changes from their last match including regular skipper Mashrafee bin Murtaza, who was carrying a minor groin injury. Rejuvenated Rangpur under the stewardship of Brendon McCullum reduced Dhaka to 48-5 before Mehedi Maruf and Sakib shared 55 runs for the sixth wicket to give their innings some respectability. Dhaka were hoping to see some kind of resistance from their in-form opener Evin Lewis but he was hit wicket off the bowling of Nahidul Islam after scoring 14 off 18 deliveries. Sakib, who had a terrible run in the tournament with bat, took the responsibility in his shoulder and Mehedi also accompanied him taking their score past 100-run mark.Dropped by Abdur Razzak on six, Mehedi made 33 off 23 balls before he became the second victim of pacer Rubel Hossain, who finished with 2-31. Ebadot Hossain was the other successful bowler of Rangpur with 2-37. Opener Johnson Charles made 26 off 30 balls to hold one end but Rangpur kept losing wicket at a regular interval to be reduced to 39-5 at one stage.Ravi Bopara struck an unbeaten 28 off 30 balls but it only reduced the margin of defeat. Although Dhaka won convincingly, Rangpur felt hard by the umpires as Charles and Mohammad Mithun (2) were given leg-before out dubiously. The catch of Shahriar Nafees (7), taken at the back by Jahirul Islam, was also questionable. Rangpur captain McCullum was lesser than amused by the low and slow wicket that typified the Dhaka phase of the tournament. ‘I personally don’t think that was exciting cricket,’ said McCullum. ‘I think the tournament can benefit from better surfaces than the one we just seen today [Wednesday].’ ‘When we batted, couple of decisions had gone the other way. As the tournament gets into the business end, you need to ensure the umpiring is very good.‘On a surface like this, any decision which doesn’t go your way can affect you. Johnson Charles was looking in good touch…he could have gone deeper into the innings,’ he added.